MEXICO BEACH — The trailer sits on a corner lot, with a view of the Gulf of Mexico, but Carl Lormand could only see the pile of ash that used to be his home.

He had watched the house burn during Hurricane Michael, helpless to stop the creeping flames as they swept over one neighbor’s property, then another. Lormand had ridden out the storm across the street, in a sturdy new house built by people out of town who had left him a key. Even there, the roof had blown off, water dripping through the floor above, and the 67-year-old wondered if he would die alone.

He stayed in Mexico Beach after the hurricane because his 12-year-old daughter wanted to go home, to the same school, the same street.

Lormand bought the trailer and parked it at the back of the lot. It is narrow and cramped. And Mexico Beach is stripped bare, the nights darker and quieter without neighbors.

Shell’s recent success in the US Gulf of Mexico includes its deepwater Dover discovery on Mississippi Canyon 612, reported last year, near its Appomattox platform. The well was drilled by the Deepwater Poseidon ultra-deepwater drillship. Sources: Shell, Transocean.

In lieu of the traditional shovel groundbreaking, Miami City Commission chair Ken Russell, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami city manager Emilio T. Gonzalez (pictured l-r) perform the ceremonial water toss to mark the start of the first Miami Forever Bond project tackling flooding and sea-level rise. (Photo by City of Miami Office of Communications)